Psychotherapist

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Somatic Approaches Offer Lasting Relief

For more than 20 years, I have been accompanying teenagers, adults and families in their healing process using the latest discoveries in psychology and neuroscience.

My professional experience includes the follow-up of patients in emergency, intensive care and palliative care units in the United States, a period with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and close collaboration with physicians and psychiatrists in delegated therapy in Switzerland.

I specialise in accompanying people as they cope with change, move through major and minor life events, and face illness, loss, grief, separation or death. I am an accredited Swiss psychotherapist (ASP), currently in private practice in Geneva and Scuol (Lower Engadine).

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If you want to change the world, start by making people feel safer.

~ Stephen Porges,
known for Polyvagal Theory

Approach

I favour a systemic approach to therapy because it places the individual, the family and even society in a broader context. In Switzerland, I was trained in this approach with neuropsychiatrist Mony Elkaïm, founder of the European Association for Family Therapy. In continuing education, I learned various body therapies such as Somatic Experiencing (SE), EMDR, Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE), Forbrain and the Tomatis Method.

Book a Session

If we have learned one thing from the recent health crisis that paralysed the world, it is that physical distance is not an obstacle either to social proximity or to effective therapy. Online sessions are similar to face-to-face therapy in that we work on the issues that are important to you. We combine talk therapy, the experience of body awareness, focus on feelings and trauma education. I teach skills and the use of simple tools that promote healing and lasting relief.  

I am an accredited Psychologist/Psychotherapist ASP in Switzerland. My services are recognised by most United Nations organisations.

Check location, dates, fees and book a session now in person in Geneva or Scuol, or online using the options below.

*Insurance Lists: Santé Suisse (Reg/Psy) + United Nations + AI. Payment accepted in €.

FAQs

Trauma and Stress

Nearly all of us, at some point or another in life, experience situations that may be considered traumatic. Surprisingly, psychosocial trauma is not caused by an event or even a series of bad experiences. Two people can experience the same car accident and have totally different reactions. The first may be shaken up but carry on relatively unscathed while for the second their life seems to have splintered into a 'before and after’ the accident.
Our personal history makes us more, or less, resilient to difficulty and hardship. Feeling loved and appreciated early in life builds emotional strength and resilience. Sound emotional attachment as a child to at least one trustworthy adult may help protect against the negative effects of hardship. Bullying by peers, as well as physical, emotional or sexual abuse by adults in childhood may leave few outward traces but carve deep emotional wounds.

Think of an event or situation that really affected you. What did you say to yourself at the time? How did you react in the weeks, months or years that followed?

  • I was so scared! I thought I (or s/he) was going to die.
  • I remember the accident like it was yesterday.
  • Those feelings (scenes) keep coming back.
  • It was so awful! I was helpless. I couldn’t do anything to save her!
  • I haven’t been able to sleep well since…
  • I just can’t stay in a relationship. It feels uncomfortable when s/he gets too close.

How we felt when we experienced a horrific incident - or when someone close to us was affected - is often an accurate indicator of the risk of suffering physically, emotionally and/or spiritually. Even when a person is too young to remember, or their mind refuses to store terrible memories, often it is the body that carries the burden and expresses it in distress and disease.

Feelings of disorientation, hopelessness, panic, anxiety, depression, shame and disconnection from others are some of the ways our bodies show us that something is wrong. Being inexplicably jumpy or easily overwhelmed, reacting strongly to certain smells, sounds or visual stimuli are other common symptoms of trauma.
Consult your doctor if you experience these, or any other, such symptoms because they may also present in people who are subject to chronic stress, sleep deprivation, the wrong medicaments or incorrect dosages, heavy metal poisoning and certain psychological illnesses.
Like chronic stress, trauma can seriously impair our ability to function with resilience and ease. Both trauma and chronic stress can lead us to adopt coping behaviours, including dependence on substances, food, exercise, sex and power, which may destroy our relationships and even our desire to live.
While it’s true that the body bears the burden of trauma, the good news is that our body also has an amazing innate capacity to heal our dis-eases and to wisely guide us as we learn to reconnect with ourselves and with others.

Body-Based Therapies

For more than 20 years, I have accompanied adolescents, adults and families in their healing processes using body-based approaches to therapy such as Somatic Experiencing (SE), EMDR, Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE), as well as effective tools like Forbrain and Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP).

Combined with talking therapies, somatic or body-based therapies have proven remarkably effective, especially for people who have experienced trauma. The main goal of somatic therapy is to recognise and release the physical tensions that may remain in the body following a traumatic experience. In one study, eight months after tsunami survivors received somatic therapy, "90% of participants reported significant improvement or no symptoms of intrusion, arousal, and avoidance" (Parker, Doctor, & Selvam 2008). Some leading experts hold that somatic approaches are more effective and even essential to trauma recovery (Khan 2014).

References

Khan, K. (2014) How Somatic Therapy Can Help Patients Suffering from Psychological Trauma. Monitor on Psychology. Retrieved from psychcentral.com
Parker, C., Doctor, R., & Selvam, R., (2008) Somatic Therapy Treatment Effects With Tsunami Survivors. Traumatology. 14 (3), 103-109.

The Somatic Experiencing® method is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine, resulting from his multidisciplinary study of stress physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics, together with over 45 years of successful clinical application. The SE™ approach releases traumatic shock, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.
Learn more: Somatic Experiencing (SE)
EMDR® (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences. It is an eight-phase therapeutic treatment that uses eye movements (or other bilateral stimulation) during one part of the session.  After the clinician has determined which memory to target first, s/he asks the client to hold different aspects of that event or thought in mind and to use her/his eyes to track the therapist’s hand as it moves back and forth across the client’s field of vision. As this happens internal associations arise and the clients begin to process the memory and disturbing feelings. It is thought that this effect may be due to biological mechanisms involved in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) during sleep.
Learn more: EMDR
TRE® (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises) is an innovative series of exercises that assist the body in releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension and trauma. The exercises safely activate a natural reflex mechanism of shaking or vibrating that releases muscular tension, calming down the nervous system.
  • Reported Benefits Include:
  • Less Worry & Anxiety
  • Reduces Symptoms of PTSD
  • More Energy & Endurance
  • Improved Marital Relationships
  • Less Workplace Stress
  • Better Sleep
  • Less Relationship Conflict
  • Reduced Muscle & Back Pain
  • Increased Flexibility
  • Greater Emotional Resiliency
  • Decreases Symptoms of Vicarious Trauma
  • Healing of Old Injuries
  • Lessened Anxiety surrounding Serious Illness
  • Relief from Chronic Medical Conditions.

Learn more: Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE)

Forbrain® is a headset type device that is focused on improving auditory processing, sensory integration, speech fluency pronunciation, sound discrimination, memory, reading, writing, speech and other related functions of the brain. By promoting air and bone conduction hearing the headset stimulates the brain in a natural way. The therapy consists of reading or speaking aloud for 10-20 mins a day to energise the voice and improve:

  • Focus and attention to be more productive
  • Memorize lessons better and faster
  • Improve reading, fluency, and confidence in speaking.

See section on Forbrain on this website.

The Safe and Sound Protocol is a therapeutic model based on physiological state. It was developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, as a five-day auditory intervention designed to reduce stress and auditory sensitivity while enhancing social engagement and resilience. Based on Dr. Porges’ Polyvagal Theory, it intervenes by calming the physiological and emotional state, thus opening the way for improved communication, connection with others and a more successful therapy.

Research reveals that SSP give significant results in just five days in the following areas:

  • Social and emotional difficulties
  • Auditory sensitivities
  • Anxiety and trauma related challenges
  • Inattention
  • Stressors that impact social engagement.

Learn more: Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP)